White House

The latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act contains numerous provisions that aim to enhance innovation in defense technologies and combat foreign efforts to exploit U.S. R&D. It postpones a proposal to reform the relationship between the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Energy.

President Trump has signed legislation that updates the Department of Education’s $1.2 billion Career and Technical Education (CTE) program. The new law expands support for integrating STEM education into CTE efforts and complements recent White House initiatives focused on workforce development.

The White House’s latest annual R&D priorities memorandum again instructs federal agencies to prioritize “basic and early-stage applied research.” It also includes new sections on advanced computing, manufacturing, space exploration, agriculture, and technology commercialization.

President Trump’s choice of meteorologist Kelvin Droegemeier to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has received widespread acclaim. Droegemeier has longstanding ties to the National Science Foundation and has contributed extensively to science policy at the national and state levels.

The White House has released a long-anticipated blueprint outlining over 80 recommendations for reforming, reorganizing, and streamlining the federal government. Among its proposals for science agencies, the plan calls for consolidating the Department of Energy’s applied R&D programs into a new “Office of Energy Innovation” and consolidating the administration of “small” federal graduate research fellowship programs into the National Science Foundation.

Under new screening measures implemented by the Trump administration on June 11, U.S. consular officials can restrict the duration of visas granted to Chinese citizens studying certain “sensitive” subjects to one year. Although the subjects in question have not been publicly identified, reports suggest they include fields such as advanced manufacturing, robotics, and aeronautics.

A chorus of concern has emerged in Congress about China’s allegedly pervasive exploitation of the U.S.’s intellectual property and open research environment, with some lawmakers seeking to overhaul foreign investment and export control systems. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is preparing a package of unilateral retaliation measures that reportedly could include visa restrictions on Chinese students and academics.

Quantum information science and exascale computing stand out as top priorities for the Department of Energy Office of Science in the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2019 budget request, which would keep the office’s overall funding at current levels.

Following last week’s budget deal that all but guarantees huge government spending increases over the next two years, the Trump administration made last-minute changes to its budget request for fiscal year 2019 that spare the Department of Energy Office of Science, National Science Foundation, and National Institutes of Health from proposed cuts. But other science agencies and programs are again slated for double-digit cuts or elimination.

In the second half of his first year in office, President Trump increased his pace in making nominations to science-related positions in the federal government. However, many Senate-confirmed positions still lack nominees and some nominees have faced difficulties with Senate confirmation, resulting in an unprecedented number of long-term vacancies.